For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ---Ephesians 6:12

"The age of casual Catholicism is over; the age of heroic Catholicism has begun. We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead must be Catholics by CONVICTION." ---Fr. Terrence Henry TOR, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Monday, March 30, 2009

LANCASTER, UK, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A proposal by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to allow abortionists to advertise on television comes straight "from the heart of the abortion industry," the Catholic bishop of Lancaster has said.

In a statement issued March 26, Bishop Patrick O'Donohue called the proposed changes "deeply damaging" and warned that they would "result in the deaths of many more preborn children and cause untold harm to women" and threaten "yet another hammer-blow to the sanctity of human life in this country."

The proposal comes as statistics continue to show rises in Britain's teenage pregnancy and abortion rates.

Pro-life advocates have warned also that a requirement in the proposal that pro-life pregnancy counselling services must "make clear if they do not refer women for abortion" is a form of pro-abortion discrimination on the part of the ASA.

Bishop O'Donohue wrote, "As a society, we need to wake up and stop treating abortion as a quick-fix solution to pregnancy and offer compassionate and practical support to women facing crisis pregnancies."

He recommends that those interested in helping women in crisis pregnancies donate their time or money to pro-life groups like the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative in Scotland.

"The killing of the innocent can never be a genuine solution to a problem," the bishop wrote. He called on "all those who care about the sanctity of human life to voice their opposition to this proposal with one voice".

After reading this, I have to wonder aloud how soon this will happen in the US under Obama. He is after all sympathetic to the abortion mill crowd. And if recent history has proven anything, it has shown that the American public can get used to just about any obscene notion if it's brought on gradually (like a frog on a hotplate). Whether it's the sex industry or abortuaries, they whittle away at our sensibilities until someone shrieks. Then they stop...for a short while. Then they whittle away again...

Remember when there were no condom ads on TV? Before the first one appeared, very few would have thought it possible to get away with such a thing. Remember the days before topless bars and adult entertainment massage parlors advertised on every other billboard on our nation's interstate highways? Now several states allow them. Abortion commercials are merely the next step in the pornification of the UK; and you know that the UK is a testing ground for the US.

Friday, March 27, 2009

I have been very busy lately and been playing catch-up on everything. This is an old story now (a whole week!), but is one on which I'd like to comment...

Notre Dame has extended an invitation to pro-abortion-President-Obama to speak at their graduation commencement ceremonies in May. Those who have been paying attention know of Obama's track record on this issue and consider the invite a very strange and inappropriate thing. Read more about this in a recent WSJ column by William McGurn by clicking HERE.

Also, if you agree with those of us who think the Fighting Irish are appeasing on the abortion issue, you may wish to contact Notre Dame's President, Fr. John Jenkins, personally. Click HERE for that info.

"President Obama has recently reaffirmed, and has now placed in public policy, his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred," D'Arcy said. "While claiming to separate politics from science, he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life."

Very well put, and with that he has earned a spot on our left column under Catholic Leaders We Admire. Read the rest of the story on the Bishop's protest HERE.

If you wish to sign a petition to get Notre Dame to rescind the invite and presentation of an honorary degree to the most pro-abortion president in our nation's history, try THIS ONE, at a website recently constructed by the Cardinal Newman Society.

And I might also wish to add...

Fr. Jenkins claimed that the invite would be a "basis for further positive engagement" on the issue of abortion, and he might be right. We do, after all, want Obama to convert to our way of thinking. But wouldn't it be more prudent to wait until AFTER HIS CONVERSION to give Obama an honorary degree? What is the point of a carrot on a stick if you give the donkey the carrot first?

(hat tip to Paul, who has no doubt been wondering where I have been...)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Here is Video #4 (updated, as the older one was removed by You Tube for TOS violations ---some people cannot handle the truth)in the latest sting operation by Lila Rose and Jackie Stollar, the brave souls of The Mona Lisa Project and Live Action Films who work undercover to expose Planned Parenthood's illegal activities. That is, Planned Parenthood employees tend to protect statutory rapists from prosecution by encouraging young girls (say, age 13 or so) to keep mum about their 30 year old boyfriend's name and age, and to quickly destroy the evidence (kill baby in womb).

For those who don't yet know, Lila and Jackie enter Planned Parenthood abattoirs pretending to be around 13-15 years of age and interested in having an abortion. Then one of them lets slip that the pregnant girls boyfriend is much older. This is the 4th video showing clinics where the girls were encouraged to hush the whole thing up, thereby protecting the statutory rapist who impregnated her.

Watch the videos...and then wonder why there is such a double standard. If Congress wasn't run by pro-abortion Democrats there would be a huge outcry and calls for nationwide investigations of Planned Parenthood. But nothing from this Congress or our President--->you know, the one who favors both partial birth abortion as well as allowing babies who survive saline abortions to die on a table from neglect (or worse). OBAMA VOTED FOR IT!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

In response to President Obama's announcement that the Conscience Clause for the Department of Health and Human Services will be removed, Francis Cardinal George, the Archbishop of Chicago and President of the USCCB, has created the video above, condemning the decision as the first step in going from democracy to despotism. "No government should come between an individual person and God," the Cardinal stated.

This is really an example of the lion batting the cub, in which Obama shows us once again he is truly in over his head by displaying his lack of understanding of humanity and freedom caused by a lack of life experience brought on in part from his years as a professor, locked in an ivory tower of arrogance and ignorance. These lions, or Cardinals, like George and Rigali, have much to teach this cub whose vacancy of understanding and his intolerance of dissent are clearly the result of his spending so many Sundays sitting in the pews, listening to hate-filled rants and racist conspiracy sermons of Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Let us pray for the conversion of Obama!

Friday, March 13, 2009

I guess I have had my mind on other issues lately, rather than Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh, and the Republican quandary as of late... But today I received a couple of conflicting emails: one from my friend, Paul, who forwarded me a link to Star Parker's latest column, in which she calls for Steele to resign as RNC chairman, and one from Michael Steele himself (auto generated form letter) in which he "sets the record straight" and then asks for more money.

In addition to this I noticed a well-researched post from Lisa Graas at Why Mommy Is A Republican in which she accuses Steele of distorting the view of the Catholic Church on some important social issues, and calls for him to step down immediately.

First an excerpt from Parker's column: (regarding Steele)

[...Not only does the RNC chairman not seem to share the values of his party, or to even agree with his party's platform, but also he is a public relations disaster. The diversionary noise he has created has not only hurt Republicans, but it has helped the president move his ambitious agenda without being seriously publicly challenged.

...This is not a time when we can muddle through with a leader who is not sure who he is, who is not clear about the principles of his party, and who is not consumed with the importance of the cultural war that we now confront. Mr. Obama certainly knows his own values with clarity and knows exactly what his objectives are.

The basic principles and values that enable freedom and that made America great -- family, sanctity of life, and sanctity of property, have been under siege now for many years. But today we have a president who wants to make a clean and final break from all these things. This is what is at stake.

The Republican Party needs a chairman who wants to fight this fight. It seems pretty clear that Michael Steele is not that man.]

And yet in the letter from Steele he seems to have very clear positions about Obama and his policies on taxing and spending---an excerpt from the letter:

[...There's also the President's claim that his budgets will cut the deficit in half by 2013. This can only be achieved through smoke and mirrors accounting and assuming that the new programs passed in the $787 billion "stimulus" bill won't be renewed. The fact is that the President's tax hikes and spending boondoggles will increase the national debt by $23.1 TRILLION over the next ten years.

The liberal talking heads who act as Democrat mouthpieces won't give you the facts about Democrats' budgets that grow the size and scope of government at all levels, increase spending to record levels, foster the redistribution of wealth, and destroy the savings of millions of Americans.

Matt, it's up to you and me to get the truth to the American people about President Obama and the Democrats' reckless and irresponsible, tax-and-spend agenda.

Please help the RNC spread the word about the Obama Democrats' broken promises and real designs for America by making a secure online contribution of $1,000, $500, $100, $50 or $25 right now. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Michael Steele Chairman, Republican National Committee]

I guess the tax and spend issue is the only thing Steele can use against Obama with a straight face. On the others he simply has no credibility. And this is clearly seen in Lisa's post about the comments Steele made in a recent GQ interview:

Michael Steele needs to step down immediately. Questions about whether or not Steele represents the majority in the party aside (I would say he most certainly doesn't), what we have here is a man who claims that choice on abortion is consistent with the Catholic Faith. This is a blatant LIE.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2322 From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a "criminal" practice (GS 27 § 3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life.]

I certainly wasn't aware of all this when I coughed up an extra $25 to send to the RNC to help Senator Coleman in his post-election battle against the charlatan, tax cheat, Al Franken. But now that I know... No more money to the RNC while it's being run by RINO's.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I don't know how long this video will remain on You Tube for all to see, but I certainly hope all can see it. It's a trailer for a new documentary film calledKilling Girls that took 7 years to make; and although it is not deemed to be entertaining, it is said to be both thought provoking and contributive in the battle against abortion-on-demand.

The film follows three teenage girls in Russia from the time they enter the abortion clinic until after they leave, delving into their circumstances for being pregnant, their reasons for having late-term, labor induced abortions, and the state of moral decay in today's Russia that would result in such an alarming trend (80% of today's Russian women have between 2 and 10 abortions in their lifetimes).

The director, David Kinsella, argues that this film is neither pro-life nor pro-choice, and that this made it nearly impossible to get funding to complete it.

"Killing Girls is by far my most difficult and important film I believe I will ever make because it is so controversial. It is not just a story about abortion; it is about teenagers who abort up to and over 7 months of pregnancy.

Killing Girls has also been my most difficult film to produce, mainly because it was next to impossible to find finance. Abortion is a topic that I feel is a “taboo” subject, a subject that we should not talk about. Everybody was telling me that I could not show this or that! NO; NO; NO! I was being suffocated by all the negative criticism towards our film. So I decided to make a film straight from my heart and soul and forget all the negative reactions.

I grew up with the troubles in my home country of Northern Ireland, so when I moved to Norway, I decided to find a positive meaning to life, even in the most tragic story. At times I felt totally helpless during the filming, the screaming from the hospital are tattooed on my soul, the sound of a baby crying during the abortion. I was totally shocked."

In spite of the "NO;NO;NO;" Kinsella refused to show any of the footage of babies during or after their labor-induced abortions, simply figuring that too many people would tune out at that point. While this may be true, leaving out babies in an abortion documentary, in my humble opinion, is like not showing the planes striking the World Trade Center or bodies falling to the ground in a documentary about 9-11. It must be shown in order for the viewer to truly appreciate the weight of what is occurring.

Kinsella, in his attempt to be evenhanded, blames the heavy trend toward abortion in Russia on a lack of sex education in Russian schools, while failing to mention that for decades God was not only disallowed in schools but in the USSR as a whole. You cannot simply re-introduce God to the "Perestroika" generation, all of the sudden, and expect everyone to automatically develop a healthy sense of sexual morality with abstinence until marriage. And this is why the abortion statistics are so alarmingly high, and why the mortality rate is twice that of the birth rate in Russia.

In the age of Obama where churches become undermined by government meddling, the future of God's presence in the consciences of young people could be in jeopardy. Could present-day Russia with few mores and abortion as a contraceptive be in our future? Or are we nearly there now?

Since Google is having trouble keeping trackbacks from disappearing after only a day, I will try to keep abreast of them myself and add them to the end of the post, as they occur. If I miss yours and you would like to add it yourself, please feel free to make the announcement in my comments section. Only SPAM and obscenities are forbidden. Thanks.

Last week President Obama issued an executive order allowing the unnecessary public funding of embryonic stem cell research, almost ensuring the future existence of embryo producing mills for the purpose of finding cures to diseases. Obama did this in spite of the fact that adult stem cell research has proven to bear fruit without subjecting a single embryo to Dr. Mengele-style experimentation resulting in the destruction of said embryos.

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, today called President Obama's executive order on embryonic stem cell research "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics." Under the order, for the first time in U.S. history, federal tax dollars will be used to encourage researchers to destroy live human embryos for stem cell research. Cardinal Rigali also cited a January 16 letter in which Cardinal Francis George, president of the USCCB, urged President-elect Obama not to issue such an order. Cardinal Rigali's statement follows:

"President Obama's new executive order on embryonic stem cell research is a sad victory of politics over science and ethics. This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human life, treating vulnerable human beings as mere products to be harvested. It also disregards the values of millions of American taxpayers who oppose research that requires taking human life. Finally, it ignores the fact that ethically sound means for advancing stem cell science and medical treatments are readily available and in need of increased support.

"In his January 16th letter to President-elect Obama, Cardinal George, writing as President of the USCCB, cited three reasons why such destructive research is 'especially pointless at this time':

'First, basic research in the capabilities of embryonic stem cells can be and is being pursued using the currently eligible cell lines as well as the hundreds of lines produced with non federal funds since 2001.

'Second, recent startling advances in reprogramming adult cells into embryonic-like stem cells – hailed by the journal Science as the scientific breakthrough of the year – are said by many scientists to be making embryonic stem cells irrelevant to medical progress.

'Third, adult and cord blood stem cells are now known to have great versatility, and are increasingly being used to reverse serious illnesses and even help rebuild damaged organs. To divert scarce funds away from these promising avenues for research and treatment toward the avenue that is most morally controversial as well as most medically speculative would be a sad victory of politics over science.'

"If the government wants to invest in hope for cures and promote ethically sound science, it should use our tax monies for research that everyone, at every stage of human development, can live with."] End of statement.

You can find Cardinal Rigali's long list of statements and homilies HERE, and his weekly column in The Catholic Standard & Times HERE.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

I do not make a habit of watching CNN (Crescent News Network...okay, maybe after this I'll revert back to calling them the Communist News Network) and therefore missed this wonderful, 10 minute gem of a news item by Lou Dobbs. But Pamela Geller caught it and posted it promptly. It is a wake-up call to those who have yet to see how imminent the threat is from radical Islam, and also from moderate Muslims who remain silent due to either fear (true in most cases) or a secret admiration for those willing to slice off heads, burn people alive, and blow themselves up for Allah.

At first glance the laws the UN is threatening to impose seem to be about protecting all religions from public (verbal or written) attack. But CNN, whose true motivation might be to continue bashing Christians, reports that the rules are being proposed to give more strength to Muslims to set up their own Sharia courts in democratic countries, giving Muslims essentially a license to kill. Yes, oftentimes Sharia courts will approve honor killings for women who cheat on their husbands or who fornicate before marriage. But sometimes women are simply beaten in public for being seen walking with a man they are not married to. There have even been examples of female victims of gang rape who have been sentenced to public lashings for their "crimes" (being with the males in the first place is a crime, I guess). Sharia courts are currently found in a few European countries, like the UK where they are legally binding, and get away with whatever they can.

The interview with atheist, Christopher Hitchens, shows him making the usual unfortunate digs at the Pope and Christianity, but he also makes some very good points about the larger issue of free speech, and is therefore worth watching. In the meantime we will continue praying for Hitchens to have his Jesus moment, but never for him or anyone else to be lead to God by the sword.

The best moment in this piece just before the interview with Hitchens when Lou Dobbs suggests bulldozing the UN Building. I couldn't agree more.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

No one, including myself, enjoys reading bad news about the economy. But when we brace ourselves enough to take the bitter pill of the news of the day, it's important to keep up with events, who or what is causing them, and who has a good plan to save our country from economic ruin. I mean, the last thing you want to do is put your trust in the same people who caused this mess. Right?

Well, while the country argues with itself on how all of this mayhem happened and who is actually to blame, there are some important things to keep in mind. One is that our country is in serious debt trouble. That means we cannot afford to spend our way out of this mess and still expect to remain an economic superpower. For years we have borrowed huge sums of money while getting further and further into debt with the seeming intention of outgrowing the debt. While the ratio of national debt to GDP was low, it didn't seem to matter how large the debt was to the politicians who continued to spend wildly to keep constituents and donors happy. Much of the money to fund the government has been borrowed from other countries, like China for instance, by selling them bonds which they can cash in whenever they feel like flexing their muscles, or if/when they feel threatened by us. Though it is more likely that since China' s economy is so tied to ours, they would do that only if they felt our country slid past the point-of-no-return on our economic down-slide.

Second, unfortunately the slow growth of personal income for your average worker bee has not kept up with the growth of GDP or government spending, nor has it kept up with the rise of the national debt. And so our ability to collect enough money from tax revenue to pull ourselves out of debt in case of ...well...a depression,... has also been hampered. With so many businesses laying off workers and so few businesses claiming profits this past year or projecting them this coming year, we should not expect a rise in tax revenues. In fact, we should expect a sharp decrease.

Third, our nation pays interest on the national debt each year. We cannot avoid paying this by simply throwing it onto the already huge national debt pile we already owe. It must be paid each year in full. In recent years it has eaten a significant portion of our tax revenue--- about 17.5% at the end of 2007 when times were still good. Our government raised $2.5 trillion in tax revenue the same year, from which it paid $430 billion in interest on the national debt consisting of $9.3 trillion. Although I always thought Ross Perot was a bit "off" at times, he was right to sound the alarm back in 1992 about how the interest we were paying on the debt was money we could have spent on other things (or better yet not at all, but given back to us!). Now it looks to swallow us whole.

Today's national debt has grown to nearly $10.9 trillion, and is expected to go up to significantly higher levels with the new stimulus (porkulus) package and President Obama's new earmark-soaked budget plan. With those you can add about $4 trillion to the existing debt ($1.7 trillion this year alone!) along with an undisclosed amount too scary to contemplate to the annual interest payments. Expect the interest due each year to almost double in size. And with profits going down, more unemployment and decreasing incomes, tax revenues will go down sharply in 2009 with even some surprising shortfalls to come on April 15th of this year for 2008 income tax revenue. See the graphs and pie charts on the current state of the economy HERE.

If the trend continues with this current administration we will soon cross over to the point of no return. Long before the national debt interest payments become equal to or overtake the amount of tax revenuethe government collects we will go belly-up. Can you picture all of our tax revenue going to pay debt interest with no money left to pay for services like highways, national defense, etc.??? The entire cost of services would go straight to the national debt, which would in turn increase the interest payments in the following year. It would be a never ending cycle. But long before that, either foreign countries like China will simply stop gambling on us and cease buying our bonds, (they might simply run out of money sooner than that, themselves), or they will pull the rug out from under us when they figure out where we are heading and cash in said bonds (like a run on the bank).

If we print more money (huge sums, like some have suggested) then inflation will skyrocket, and not simply like the Carter years, but much higher --more like with your average 3rd world nation or even worse. It will mean economic collapse much more devastating than the old Soviet Union. And let us not ignore the effect it would have on the rest of the world: there are no democracies beyond us capable of saving the world from oppression. We will no longer have the power to stop rogue nations from attacking their neighbors and perhaps swallowing whole continents. If the aggressor inspires enough fear, it could accomplish much of this without firing a shot...or much of one. Remember Hitler's Anschluss? He swallowed a lot of territory before anyone actually tried to stand in his way. Countries that could get away with it today under such circumstances are run by people who speak of slicing off heads and subjugating women, and who will soon be nuclear-capable.

But how could all of this happen in a country like ours? After all, our politicians are not stupid. They are not suicidal. They are all patriotic folks who love America and want it to succeed. Right? NO! They are lascivious fools who are blinded by ambition and starving for money and power.

We should simply be quiet and leave the driving to the experts. Right? NO! What we need to do is to take the power out of the hands of the people who ran the economic bus into the ditch and hire new people---smart people, honorable people, people who feel subject to a power higher than themselves! Not some punk with a messianic complex who doesn't know his you-know-what from a hole in the ground, or his sycophantic entourage of tax cheats.

Should this strategy be limited to politicians? NO! It includes power brokers who rely on our patronage of their businesses. It also includes media outlets who "powder the bottoms" of the wrong candidates while crucifying the good ones. It means boycotting movies that feature actors who otherwise make large sums of money and use them to cause mischief in Washington and elsewhere. IT MEANS GETTING INVOLVED AND MAKING CHANGES, not sitting back idly and voting only if you fall madly in love with the candidate. Even John McCain would have been better than this garbage...

In the meantime make your politicians aware of how you feel. Go online and get their phone and/or fax numbers. Google them! Or better yet, click HERE. They might have an office near you. Tell them to stop spending so foolishly. Notify sponsors of programs you find offensive that they can no longer count on your business. Call the networks and sponsors of those networks and tell them you don't appreciate slanted news that glorifies incompetent politicians while ignoring their crimes, ie., NBC, CBS, Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, Barack Obama, etc... Vote in primary elections and throw out bad Republicans like Arlen Specter. Get involved. The future of your country depends upon you.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

For most of today I was involved in the Rite of Sending at my local church, and then the Call to Continuing Conversion of Candidates to the Catholic Church at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Harrisburg, PA. Both ceremonies were beautifully done, but especially the latter with its huge-sounding organ and massive choir. Click HERE for the virtual tour of St. Patrick's.

First the 9am service at my local church had both the catechumens (unbaptized RCIA members) and candidates(previously baptized, like me) step forward and be recognized, along with our sponsors, at Mass. Then later in the afternoon, we all traveled to Harrisburg to stand before the Bishop himself, Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, who gave a very stirring homily for the occasion.

Afterwards I stood in line for nearly a half hour waiting to have my picture taken with Bishop Rhoades, a very nice fellow, who also honored me by blessing my rosary. I was so nervous I had trouble smiling during the meeting, but the Bishop was a very good sport and took it well.

While I was waiting in line to see him, some of the RCIA staff members were betting on whether or not I would be taller than the Bishop with his hat on, once we stood together. See pic with handshake. See also HERE.

Matt K Cassens

(not my photo)

Click on picture above for information about the author.

Also, I want to add that not everyone I link to below marches lock-step with me on every issue. But I link to them nonetheless because I think they are righteous. They have taken sides in their respective battles, political and/or religious, and have chosen wisely. May you do the same.

Followers

The middle east media research institute

Stop Islamization of america

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